Running Head: HAVE YOU BEEN TOLD YOURE BEAUTIFUL

Have You Been Told Youre Beautiful?

Running Head: HAVE YOU BEEN TOLD YOURE BEAUTIFUL

Too fat, too skinny, too curvy, too tall this is what females today experience on a daily
basis. A womans self image may be influenced by fashion magazines, television shows, or even
clothing stores. Women have high expectations placed onto them to look and feel a certain way.
In the early 1950s the ideal woman was perceived as being curvaceous, after all men liked fuller
figures. Through the years, this ideal woman has changed drastically: the ideal woman is now
(being thin). Although there is nothing wrong with being thin, women can experience insecurities
by comparing themselves to models and celebrities who have that perfect body. Women are
surrounded by all these ideals on a daily basis. Women in the 21st century have a standard to
obtain. These standards include fitting into the right clothes, getting cosmetic surgery, and
striving to feel beautiful.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary the definition of body image is a
subjective picture of one's own physical appearance established both by self-observation and by
noting the reactions of others (Webster, 2015). This definition states what most women think in
their mind on a daily basis. Magazines, models, and the images we see of popular, beautiful
celebrities do not help in encouraging a healthy womens body image. Women have a sense of
insecurity when it comes to their bodies. These insecurities are portrayed on television as well.
The hit show Sex and the City starring Sarah Jessica Parker had an episode where it showed men
who only would date models. Sarah Jessica Parkers character interviewed women about how
they feel about their own bodies. Women discussed various magazines and talked about different
celebrities and they talked about how they felt about themselves in comparison. One character
named Charlotte York said, I just know that no matter how good I feel about myself, if I see
Christy Turlington, I just want to give up (Star, 1998). This television show, although geared
toward most adult women, shows that women are insecure about their bodies even as they get

Running Head: HAVE YOU BEEN TOLD YOURE BEAUTIFUL

older. This episode gave hope to those women watching, that even fictitious women have
insecurities. Women everywhere have things they would change about themselves to please
society.
Media does not help in the portrayal of actors of a bigger size. For instance, actress Rebel
Wilson, whom is known for her major role as Amy in Pitch Perfect. Most actresses are mainly
known for being beautiful and talented. As for Rebel Wilson, she is well known as talented and
funny. Her introduction in Pitch Perfect is Hi, my name is Fat Amy the characters she is
speaking to, are surprised that she calls herself fat. Rebel Wilson further explains on behave of
her character I do it so, twig b*tches like you dont do it behind my back. Through this, her
character is already dealing with the insecurities that a bigger person encounters. According to
Rebel Wilson she said, Im not trying to be hot. Im trying to be a good actress and entertain
people (Gray, 2013). By Rebel saying such noble words, it gives true insight on how she is
empowered by her body image. She knows her place as an actress, and all she wants to do is
make people laugh and is completely confident in herself.
Another celebrity, who embraces her feminism, is Beyonc Knowles. She is well known
for being Queen B and everyone hails Beyonc; she has created a name for herself through
empowering women. She has made various attempts to let her fans know that she cares for ones
body image, and for one to love themselves. Beyonc has a song named Pretty Hurts which
explains how society wants every woman to look a certain way. It goes further into explaining,
that clothes are the only things that mattered to feeling beautiful. One of the lines in the song is
Blonder hair, flat chest TV says, Bigger is better, South beach, sugar free Vogue says,
Thinner is better (Azlyrics). Through this song, Beyonc exemplifies how women feel on a
daily basis to compete with societys standards. The music video shows Beyonc at a plastic

Running Head: HAVE YOU BEEN TOLD YOURE BEAUTIFUL

surgeons office, with maker all over her body on parts that need altering. Her song is a message
for women with insecurities, letting them know they are beautiful just the way they are. Beyonc
is a role model toward women, because she embraces her natural curves and lets face it, she is no
size two. She gives women that encouragement to love their bodies, when society wont allow
them.
The ideal woman in the 1950s needed to be curvaceous and maintain a certain standard
of hips and buttocks. The 1950s are where the ideal body size was the hourglass shape among
women. Marilyn Monroe was an actress who happened to have a size 14 waist, which is clearly
absurd during todays time: todays society would consider this body size, fat and not beautiful.
The 1950s advertised waterpills to help women gain weight so they could have fuller figures.
These ideals had women work to gain weight to look like celebrities during this time. An
hourglass shaped woman was considered beautiful and timeless during that time. The ideal body
image of the 1950s sent the message that women should gain weight. Now, water on pills in the
way they worked to help women achieve to get that glamorous popular body image all the
women wanted (Wade 2011).
Women want to feel beautiful whether it be in the clothes they wear or their own bodies.
Women struggle to feel beautiful in their own skin on a daily basis. The clothing stores nowadays
for both women and teens usually carry only certain sizes. For instance, BrandyMeliville
clothing stores which only sells one-size-fits-all clothes. Most of the clothing is geared towards
people who are a size small. In reality, women are not all shaped the same way. Woman have
curves, some women are tall, short, and skinny. This clothing store is an eye opener toward
societys view on beauty. The women who work for the clothing store are usually tall Caucasian
girls who wear a size 0. Buzz feed did an article on various women with different body types to

Running Head: HAVE YOU BEEN TOLD YOURE BEAUTIFUL

try on the one-size fits all clothes. Candace, one woman from the article said, I dont even have
a big chest but I feel like only half of my boobs made it in. It made feel awful about my body
(Joe, 2014).
Clothing amongst women can only continue through all the fashion brands out there. One
in particular has gotten a lot of dislikes concerning how the sizing works. Abercrombie and
Fitch, one of the biggest names in fashion amongst young teens and young women, have
discriminated against those of a certain size. Women sizes usually only go up to a size large in
tops, and a size 10 in pants. Now, Mike Jefferies the CEO of the company made a remark that he
only wanted pretty people wearing his clothing. Jeffries was quoted by saying in an interview
with salon Its almost everything. Thats why we hire good-looking people in our stores.
Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool,
good-looking people. We dont market to anyone other than that(Lutz 2013). This is,
discrimination against the larger women whom wear the clothing brand. I work for the brand,
and have seen countless women whom are of larger size get disappointed when we tell them that
we only go up to a size 10 in pants. This undermines womens potential to feeling amazing.
American Eagle Outfitters clothing store took a stand toward having natural unretouched models in their lingerie line called Aerie. Through this, American Eagle Outfitters
posted women advertising the companys bra and underwear. The ads pictured women, with
curves, tattoos, all shapes and sizes of women. Showing society, thats what real women really
look like. The company added, We want every girl to feel good about who they are and what
they look like, inside and out. The company vowed not to use supermodels in their campaigns
anymore, but instead using natural un-retouched models. They emphasize that there is no reason
to retouch beauty(Krupnick, 2014).

Running Head: HAVE YOU BEEN TOLD YOURE BEAUTIFUL

A craze that is going on in todays society is corset training. They help women achieve
that hourglass shape, without working out. Essentially, what these body shapers do is make the
stomach muscles contract inward, creating an hourglass shape. Crushing the ribs into having less
space within the body. According to Dr. Mary Jane Minkin, "Once you take the garment off,
your body will return to its usual shape. Its also uncomfortable, restricts your movements, and if
you wear it really tight, it can even make it difficult to breathe and theoretically could cause rib
damage (Crain, 2014). Its mind boggling that, women would exceed such great lengths to have
a nice body, to risk their internal organs. Women get these ideas from seeing celebrities such as
Kim Kardashian West, and her sister Khloe Kardashian advertising waist training on social
media. Most women want a celebrity body and if the celebrities are doing these things, it must be
safe. Women who go out and buy these items to make their bodies look like these celebrities
whom are glorified for their perfect curves. The only way to truly look this way according
toward Dr. Mary Jane Minkin is to exercise and have a well balanced diet (Crain, 2014).
Natural beauty was glorified among the women with natural curves, but unfortunately
plastic surgery, has become a to change ones body. Plastic surgery is a type of cosmetic surgery
in which people can alter their bodies with the ease of surgery. Women have had a craze over this
for years. According to Dr. Arthur Shektman says, people want to keep their ethnic
identity(Espejo 2010). Meaning, people enhance their ethnic features whether it be their
cheekbones, buttocks, or stomach. While maintaining their ethnic identity, women especially
want to feel younger and look more youthful in order to feel prettier. For example, Asian
Americans get an eyelid surgery to remove their double eyelid. Many of these women want to
make their eyes bigger to look Caucasian.

Running Head: HAVE YOU BEEN TOLD YOURE BEAUTIFUL

Plastic surgery has gained a lot of recognition among women who want to enhance
various features of their body. Women of the Hispanic decent tend to get breast implants, buttock
lifts, and Botox. Although Hispanic women who do get plastic surgery do not try to change their
ethnic features, they are still changing their bodies. As one woman who is Hispanic, said, We
Latinas define ourselves with our bodies, we always have curves (Dolnick, 2011). But the
question is why do women want to enhance their ethnicities beauty? This particular Hispanic
woman emphasized how her personality did not match her small breasts (Dolnick, 2011). This
statement just proves how Hispanic women are just not satisfied with the bodies they were born
it. They want that J.LO butt, boobs, and curves. But these Latina women think that sometimes
the only way to feel beautiful in their nationality is to get cosmetic surgery.
Body image does not always only include body size and a womens image of perfection.
Young teens are now finding and trying ways to alter their bodies based on being bullied at
school from their peers. Young women have taken extreme measures to perfect their beauty.
Women want to please their peers, and want others to think they are beautiful. A 13 year old girl
was bullied for having an abnormal (nose according to herself and her peers). In actuality, the
nose on her face looks perfectly normal, but she wrote a letter toward an organization that helps
people whom have deformities and they provide cosmetic surgery free of charge (Reporter,
2011). This exemplifies about the extreme situational insecurities a woman can go through, even
though body image is not something that can be controlled based by genes. It is horrible for
women to feel insecure about themselves as is, and now have to worry about their biological
traits to please everyone including themselves.
Feeling beautiful is characteristic women tend not to feel on a regular basis. Woman has
impeccable standards to uphold to be accepted by society and especially by themselves. Now,

Running Head: HAVE YOU BEEN TOLD YOURE BEAUTIFUL

there are some circumstances where cosmetic surgery is essential toward a persons well being.
There are many cases were individuals are born with deformities that make daily life a struggle.
An example of this type of cosmetic surgery would be clef lip. Is a birth defect that causes the
upper lip and nose to connect, together. The sad truth is that because of this deformity people can
be mean and bully others. According to registered nurse Kristen Hayes about 50% of people with
clef lip fear to be bullied, and about 40% have self-confidence issues in fear that they look
different (Hayes, 2014). Now, this type of imperfection is suitable for cosmetic surgery.
Cosmetic surgery helps these individuals get back to eating normally and feeling more confident.
All different nationalities have adopted plastic surgery as a way to enhance their body. In
the 1950s natural beauty was the only way to go. It was accepted amongst society to have those
natural curves and that body. Marilyn Monroe, alongside with actress Audrey Hepburn gave
women aspirations to be glamorous. Women wanted a full figure, and advertisements encouraged
this. I cant afford to be skinny, said a wate-on pills advertisement (Wade, 2011). Women in the
1950s obsessed over being a Marilyn Monroe. Todays society would not agree to want to be a
size fourteen but would rather be a size zero. Todays society buys into the advertisement of
weight loss pills, which is a total opposite from the weight gain pills of the 50s. Todays
advertisements usually say, I lost 39 lbs fast with Hydroxycut! and typically accompanies
woman who has a before fat picture and an after skinny picture (These types of advertisement
give women further insecurities about their bodies, and they are likely to want to lose weight
through diet pills.) The 1950s had the same approach, making women feel insecure about their
bodies for being to skinny.
A healthier approach to wanting a woman to lose weight would be exercising, there are
countless ways society has empowered good health. For instance, there are many ways people

Running Head: HAVE YOU BEEN TOLD YOURE BEAUTIFUL

whom are of bigger size if having the desire to lose weight can do it in a healthy way. Since, the
demand for being thin in on the rise, woman do not have substitute to unhealthy ways to losing
weight. As mentioned, diet pills are no way a person should want to lose weight. But, a serious
condition can called anorexia nervosa can cause women with body image issues to develop this
conditions. This condition causes a person to give up eating, based on wanting to feel skinner,
wanting to feel beautiful. These individuals look at the mirror and see themselves as fat ugly
and undesirable. They want to be thin like the runway models, and beautiful like those
individuals on the magazine. Women, have such a standard to uphold and some go through
extreme measures. For example 26-year-old mother Rebecca Jones and 7-year-old daughter
Maisy Jones, wear the same wardrobe. As quoted from Rebecca when interviewed she said,
Wearing the same clothes as Maisy gives me a sense of pride. Its wrong, but it makes me feel
good. I dont think Im thin- I always see myself as bigger(Murano, 2011). Wanting to be thin
makes women go the extra mile to lose what they call fat. The feeling of being beautiful will
forever not be enough. To be skinny, is such a self-esteem boost, but not executed in the right
way.
Dove has done an exceptional job at empowering women through their advertisements.
The Dove beauty company, created the Dove campaign for Real Beauty in 2004 (Dove, 2014).
Through this campaign, they want to let women know how beautiful they are in their skin. They
show various women in different shapes in sizes, in one of their advertisements. This campaign
promotes woman to have a world without anxiety, and worry about themselves. Dove wants to
promote confidence in woman. Dove interviewed about 3,000 women in 10 counties to learn
about womens ideals of beauty. When the report came back from their interviews, it was said
only 2 percent of women considered themselves beautiful. A soap company like Dove wanted

Running Head: HAVE YOU BEEN TOLD YOURE BEAUTIFUL

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to incorporate natural woman of all ages into their advertisements (Bahadur, 2014). Dove used
words such as fat or fit while having a check box option for each word, and having a woman
on the advertisement. Women usually on advertisements for beauty products are generally
young, photo shopped to look flawless. Women having, to undermine their sense of how truly
beautiful they are as an individual. Dove made one of their commercials a fake makeover spot,
making women take a shower in Dove body wash, and their make over was the feel of soft skin.
Dove did not stop there with their ways to empower women about their bodies. They
created a three-minute segment show, which got random people and had an artist sketch. The
person would be asked by the artist to describe their physical features, such as hair, eyes, and
face. The artist drew them according to their description of themselves. The next task was for the
individual to meet another individual whom got sketched, and they were asked various physical
featuring questions about the other individual. The strangers who are describing the individuals,
had a way to make what the individual drawn much more positive. They said good things, about
one another. This kept going for the rest of the individuals. Through this, each individual got to
see, how they truly saw themselves, and how others really saw them. It gave perspective that as
humans, we tend to be in touch with our flaw, and learn to not accept them (Dobbs, 2014). Other
individuals will see the beauty in others, but sadly we cannot see the beauty in ourselves. That is
what Dove was trying to reveal toward women. They want women, to feel empowered by how
they look, and feel comfortable in their own skin.
Dove is not the only one incorporating beauty into their ad campaigns. Special K Cereal
has decided to do the exact same. They have the What will you gain when you lose, because
Special K is a healthy cereal full of grains, and vitamins allowing women to have a fuller
breakfast without all the calories. The company wants to focus primarily on changing womens

Running Head: HAVE YOU BEEN TOLD YOURE BEAUTIFUL

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perspective of weight loss, and wanting women to gain confidence in their body image. Women
come in all different shapes and sizes, and Special K wants them to disregard their body size.
Special K has an advertisement on television that consists of women stepping on a red scale and
having the scale say happy sass amazing showing the characteristics women will gain by
losing weight. Special K quotes, We want to encourage a responsible attitude when it comes to
body image and to show that losing weight isn't just about the way you look or a certain size you
need to conform to, but more importantly about the way it makes you feel(Krupnick, 2011).
This company is changing the ways of what is normal in society, the thin bodies of the
advertisements especially on weight loss foods.
In conclusion, every woman deserves to feel beautiful in her own skin. Fitting in the right
clothes, getting cosmetic surgery is not exactly what women should undergo to strive to feel
beautiful. By allowing women to embrace their imperfections and accept being who they are.
Women, need to realize that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes, and altering what was
biologically given is something that should not be altered. Encouragement for embracing body
image is practically everywhere, but as women we only want to see what could make us more
beautiful, wanting to look like our favorite celebrity, model, or even friend. Not embracing our
curves, jiggles, cellulite, and freckles. As a society, those types of characteristics are not
considered beautiful. As a kid, I was bullied about my looks. Although, the act took place in
elementary school, I still have many insecurities about myself. I care way too much about what
others think about me, versus what I truly think. I guess, I do not give myself enough credit for
the beauty that was instilled in me, but allowing peoples actions and words to define who I am.
This is a primary example, of how women become insecure and want to be something that they

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